Archive for September, 2014

Now that I’ve effectively doused the heat pouring from my house stereo speakers I think I can actually digest SLEEPY WONDER’S upcoming release

Corporate Greed

due out November 11, 2014.

Jumping head-first into this latest gem:

Sleepy rolls over the earliest track Another Gear showing us his natural ability to take the tightest lines and flow them loosely. From the jump you see a gifted artist giving us what he knows best and why this Independent King has ‘been here for years’. This first track is in place to let you know he’s got your attention and you better hold on.

Ghetto Blues is well placed as the second entry in the track listing. Building from the genius of Portishead’s Glory Box, Sleepy cooks up an atmosphere, lulling us into a moving blue beat that gives the artist a chance to share some of the deeper tones that ring through a person’s soul. Definitely one of the tightest on the album.

Now we move on to an immediate attention-getter. Facing My Challenges makes you wish you were at 9:30 in DC on a Friday night, slowly bumping out your stresses. This one goes out ‘to the whole wide world with an ear’.

There’s something instantaneously nostalgic about the title track Corporate Greed. As the bass line plucks over its smoothly-staccato melody our artist reaches in, separates our minds from our bodies and takes us somewhere else for the next several minutes. Pouring over the subdued angst concerning government greed and ‘the man who fights against the strugglers’ we find no lack of heart in what Sleepy gives us on this song.

You’re going to have to find your way to a dance floor and grab the closest princess before moving onto Why Did You Leave Me To Cry. Heartfelt and beautiful, we get a track that you would rather celebrate the joy of a past love than sulk in the memories.

The Time Has Come is a straight-up call to attention. Citing should-have-been learned lessons from the past, Sleepy sows through this lulling beat with some knowledge for us all. I love here how he’s putting assertively potent lyrics to an utterly soothing beat just to show us all that revolution is indeed a beautiful thing.

Letter To The Media infuses a progressive upbeat rhythm to our journey and gives us yet another fine Sleepy Wonder style moment. I hope to see this track appear on a slew of mixes in the latter part of 2014. In case you didn’t know, Sleepy ‘did it BEFORE and… will SURELY do it again’.

Perfectly set towards the rear of the album is the inspirational Lift Your Heads to the Sky featuring the vocals of Samara Morris. Giving you that 5:00 Vibe here Sleepy has you raising your hands and feeling the world’s eternal fluid feed though your spirit. Once again the track is so wholehearted it’s as if a spark appears in his mind and is immediately coming through your speakers.

Why They Hatin Me Foe introduces the first and only real hiphop influence into the set. We have a funkier drummer and only compared to the smoothness of the previous tracks do you sense a bit of good ol’ grittiness threading its way through the system. Gichi Dame pours an airtight hook in between Sleep’s verse, also tying his guest artists back into the fabric of this banging track. With Marlee Jaye, Miami, Smokin Dro Frazier and Peso Dollar pressing lyrics into the beat you’ll love how this track stays danceable. I love the short-winded verses here because they don’t pull you away from the fragrance of the well-laced chorus or move attention too far away from the beat and its good vibe. Excellent song to end on…

Did I say end on? Actually, remember that beautiful downtempo joint Sleepy gave us after the opening track? Well he sends us out with a much-appreciated instrumental from 5-minutes in just so we feel and remember the full body & soul experience that is listening to this album.

* * * * *

I love that nothing on this album gives us any reminder of what we’ve seen Sleepy do before. Whether it slows you down or picks you up, you won’t hear anything but sparkling new inspiration from this talented musician and inventor.

Corporate Greed shows us a display of the talented SLEEPY WONDER concealing the more “in your face” styles as seen previously on tracks like Much Harder Than Ever, the drum & bass mix of Big Inna Body, or the heavy metal rock mix of My Vibes (all available on 2013’s Geometric Echoes). We miss the radio-ready Ass On Her, the synths and the R&B fragrance of Time Is Running Out (both from 2010’s Injustice).

In light of which I’ll say that for a performer known for his live energy, I’m wondering how Sleepy will interpret these new tracks into his upcoming, sure to be electric, performances.

With this album Sleepy takes a hold and sends you through the experience of this top-quality foray of wits and makes another strong addition to the Reggae musical canon.

Even if your thinking this kind of record isn’t typically your strength, I implore you to let The General SLEEPY WONDER take you to a place of world citizenship. You won’t be disappointed in the trip.

You can only help but wonder what this truly gifted writer, recorder, producer, and label exec will give us next time.

For as he has told us before, ‘you can never put me down, never get me down’.

If you’re inept to Sleepy Wonder’s music check my personal favorite:

Can’t Do Mi Nothing from 2010’s Injustice or experience the lyrics prowess of State Of the Union Address from Thievery Corporation’s Richest Man In Babylon.

I don’t want them incarcerated or tortured so the rest of the world can see how we deal with our enemies.

I don’t want to see them strung across tabloids or headlines giving more ignition to those who subscribe to their cause.

I don’t want their example to be carelessly used to turn the minds of so many Americans into beacons of hatred themselves.

I don’t want them to die a painful death.

I want them to see it is easy to destroy but takes a lot work to build anything of value.

I want them to understand that in destruction you create nothing.

I want them to see that changing minds and then hearts towards positivity is the only way to have a world better tomorrow than what we have today.

I want them to take their newfound wisdom and return to their friends and share this better strategy to more effectively implement their desires.

I want them to understand that death meets us all and the damage they have done rushing innocent people to theirs does nothing for their cause.

I want them to feel remorse not only for the lives that we were lost that day but also for the countless loss of men, women and children who over 13 years have been made to pay for their thoughtlessness.

I want them to be outspoken about peace and forge alliances built on people’s ability to build bridges and find common ground with any other person no matter their differences.

I want them to spread harmony in reconciliation for their mistakes and help religious fundamentalists of all faiths calm their angst and sense of urgency and show them how to transform it into patience and acceptance so that we can move into an era where incredible fears are no longer a vehicle used to control our opinions and perceptions.

I want them to show others how to recognize the hatred in their hearts and turn them away from the communicable properties of ignorance and the self-serving fate of revenge.

I want them to show people that we can be better than what we have been.

I don’t want to see more sects of religions turned so filthy.

I don’t want to see more people killed in the name of peace.

I don’t want to see innocent people scared of other innocent people just like them.

I don’t want to see the viral effects of hate carry us to such an ugly world.

I want the world to remember that even those with the darkest moments in their souls are still not beyond repair.

I’d rather be the most unpopular seed planter in my community than the most recognizable bandwagon rider on this myopic knee-jerk reactionary downward spiral of weeds that has infected an otherwise well-meaning and healthy landscape.